John Bryan Jackson ’27

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Look back at any point in UCLA’s past 66 years, and chances are, John Bryan Jackson was there. When the campus moved from Vermont Avenue to Westwood in the summer of 1929, he was there. When the UCLA Alumni Association was founded in 1934, he was there. When UCLA played its first Rose Bowl Game in 1943, and when the basketball team won the NCAA championship for 10 years straight, Jackson was there, cheering them on. From the day he graduated in 1927, he has lent his time, energy and indomitable spirit to the University, leaving his identity imprinted on his alma mater as indelibly as the inscription inside Royce Hall. All the while, he has not only been making history but also recording it. In 1937, 10 years after graduation, the nascent Alumni Association commissioned him to write a history of UCLA, to be used as a premium to attract new members. The result was California of the Southland and a history of the fledging school that remains a rare but valuable reference on the early years of the university. Those who knew Jackson in those days were probably not surprised when he assumed the helm of the UCLA Alumni Association in 1939, becoming its second director. “He’s always had his thumb on everything at UCLA,” recalls Blanche Baker, president of the Pioneer Alumni Club and his longtime friend. “I think UCLA is just absolutely number one in his life.” Under his sure, enthusiastic direction, the Alumni Association as we know it today began to take shape. He also helped introduce the University to private fundraising.

In 1960, when Chancellor Franklin Murphy took the reins of leadership and wanted to establish an office of publication services, Jackson, with his experience in publishing and his vast knowledge of the university, was the logical choice for manager. Toward the end of his tenure, in 1969, he also found time to coauthor a 50-year retrospective history of UCLA with Andrew Hamilton. Called UCLA on the Move, the book was published to celebrate UCLA’s 50th birthday.

Although he officially retired as manager of the office of publication services in 1972, the term retirement is something of a misnomer when it comes to Johnny Jackson. His love of sports, unabated after more than 60 years, is evident in his support of such clubs as Bruin Bench, to which he has belong for more than 36 years, Bruin Hoopsters and Sportsmen of the South. One of his most important functions is as the official historian of the Alumni Association. Between 1971 and 1976, he wrote a number of papers for the Alumni Association, focusing on the history behind the people, events and campus of UCLA. So complete is his knowledge of UCLA, the Alumni Association office frequently calls on him with questions regarding the University’s history. He also lends his experience and expertise to the Annual Fund, serving as an advisor to the direct mail program. He is an honorary trustee of the UCLA Foundation.

Johnny’s myriad contributions have not gone unnoticed by the people he has served. In 1962, he received a University Service Award, and 1984 saw him honored twice, at a Gold Shield reception and with a 50th Anniversary Bruin Gold Tribute Award, which marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Alumni Association. Jackson’s friends – and there are hundreds – know him as a kind, friendly, unassuming man who has a way of making each one feel like the most important person in the world. That same quality has been a major factor in his relationship to the University. His commitment, he explains, is rooted in the role he and his fellow Pioneers played in UCLA’s transition from teacher’s college to world-class university. “This is the thing we helped build,” he explains. “We were jealous of its future and wanted it to grow.” Thanks in large part to Johnny Jackson, it has.